Effective traffic management is an essential part of minimising the FRC project's construction impact on journey times and public safety.
All planned traffic management on the FRC project is planned and coordinated through a regularly convened Traffic Management Working Group, chaired by Transport Scotland and attended by FRC Contractors, Forth Estuary Transport Authority, emergency services and relevant local authorities.
This working group reviews all proposed traffic management proposals on the project to help minimise disruption to the travelling public and avoid conflicts with major events or works planned elsewhere on the road or rail networks, including the recently announced emergency repair works to the existing Forth Road Bridge.
IMPORTANT UPDATE: Major Traffic Management to be implemented on M90 in April/May 2012
From 9 April for six weeks a contraflow scheme will be implemented on the M90 between Halbeath and Admiralty.
Users of the A92 and M90 in Fife are urged to plan ahead and consider alternative travel arrangements when a major traffic management scheme is implemented during April and May as part of the construction works on the Forth Replacement Crossing project.
Two lanes for both northbound and southbound traffic will be maintained on week days throughout the programmed works. This will result in expected week day delays of up to 30 minutes during peak periods of traffic.
However, for four consecutive weekends from the middle of April major surfacing works on the M90 south bound carriageway will reduce the M90 in this area to just one lane south bound. These weekend restrictions are expected to result in significant delays, possibly of two hours or more, and motorists are urged to avoid the area and use alternative routes or modes of travel.
The weekend restrictions will be in place between 8pm on Friday and 6am on Monday on 20 to 23 April, 27 to 30 April, and 4 to 7 May.There will also be a contraflow in operation over the weekend of 11 to 14 May to allow the Contractor to carry out works on the Northbound carriageway over Masterton Bridge.
If travelling on this route is unavoidable at these times, motorists are advised to allow significant additional time to complete their journey, particularly if they are journeying to special events or taking flights from Edinburgh Airport.
In addition to the above, south bound slip roads serving the M90 will be closed at different periods throughout the programme to allow the works to take place, with clearly signed local diversion routes in operation. This will begin with the closure of the Southbound on-slip from the A985 at Junction 1 (Admiralty) from Monday 2 April for approximately 14 days.
To mitigate the impact of these works, ScotRail will be providing additional capacity on almost 30 weekend services which cross the Forth Rail Bridge.
IMPORTANT UPDATE: Night time rock blasting adjacent to M90 at Ferrytoll begins in April
In addition to the above major traffic management works, from Friday 6 April 2012, and approximately at fortnightly intervals thereafter, night-time rock blasting will commence adjacent to the M90 at Ferrytoll. While this blasting should have no direct impact on road users, in the interests of safety, roads in the area will close for up to half an hour at a time from around 10pm. A rolling road block will be put in place by police for southbound traffic and northbound traffic will be held south of the Forth Road Bridge.
These blasting works will continue for a 6 month period.
The traffic management works detailed above are weather dependent and may need to be rescheduled in the event of poor conditions. Further details on the timings of these works will be publicised nearer to their scheduled commencement.
Traffic Management currently in operation south of the Forth
IMPORTANT UPDATE: New temporary 30mph restrictions in operation south of the forth
For reasons of safety during construction, new 30 mph speed limits are in operation on the following lengths of road as extensions to the existing 30mph limits:
Essential traffic management measures have been installed by the contractor Sisk Roadbridge as part of the works to upgrade M9 Junction 1a at Kirkliston for the Forth Replacement Crossing (FRC).
The traffic management measures include the closure of hard shoulders throughout the extent of the traffic management scheme and lane restrictions together with the implementation of a mandatory 40mph speed limit, which is vital for maintaining the safety of the travelling public and road workers. The roads affected are the M9 between Newbridge and Winchburgh (Junctions 1 to 2), the M9 Spur and on the A90 south of the Forth Road Bridge to Scotstoun Junction.
Various other traffic management measures will be in place in this area until spring 2013 to allow works to take place.
Average speed cameras will be installed to enforce the 40mph speed limit.
Traffic Management currently in operation north of the Forth
A number of traffic management measures have been installed on the M90/A90, A92, and A823(M) in Fife as part of the work on the Fife ITS contract as part of the Forth Replacement Crossing (FRC).
Initially, restrictions on the carriageways will comprise the closure of the hardshoulders on the M90 motorway between Halbeath Junction and Admiralty Junction in both northbound and southbound directions. Various other traffic management measures will be in place in this area until summer 2012 to allow works to take place.
For reasons of safety, a mandatory 40mph speed limit will be applied throughout the extent of the traffic management scheme, which will be enforced by average speed cameras.
These cameras will measure a vehicle's average speed from point to point along a length of the route, using Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) to identify vehicles that exceed the 40mph limit.
A free vehicle recovery service will be provided within all FRC traffic management schemes.
Detailed, up to date information on traffic management measures required by the FRC project will be available through Traffic Scotland's website.
Contact the dedicated FRC project team.
For more information, please see the Forth Replacement Crossing: Consultation on the M9/A90/M90 Trunk Road Regulations 2012 and, A823(M) Trunk Road Regulations 2012
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